This vintage dog painting,"A Special Pleader," is by the Victorian genre painter Charles Burton Barber. (1845-1894). He specialised in oil paintings of dogs with children. His paintings of this little girl and her pet Sheltie (Shetland Sheepdog) are among my favourites! Charles Burton Barber exhibited at the Royal Academy and won many honours and awards. In the early 1870s Queen Victoria commissioned him to paint her favourite dogs. She remained his chief patron until the time of his death in 1894, at the age of 49. In addition to painting, he was also an illustrater of children's books and he dabbled in photography.